NorthWood pitcher Hannah Stickley fires home during her shutout of Tippecanoe Valley Monday night. (Photos by Mike Deak)

NAPPANEE – NorthWood took advantage of nearly all of its chances Monday, clobbering Tippecanoe Valley, 13-0, in a five-inning softball matchup Monday night at Stauffer Park.

NorthWood’s Taylor Troxel has a laugh with a teammate after scoring a run against Tippecanoe Valley.

NorthWood used 12 hits and was given plenty of Viking favors as the visitors kicked around seven errors in the game.

Taylor Troxel led the Panthers with three hits, opening the scoring in the first innings with an RBI single as part of a three-run inning. Alexis Klotz drove in the next two NorthWood runs with a double, and later added another RBI single in the third.

A five-run NorthWood second inning had all five come in unearned as the Vikings committed four of its errors. The Panthers tacked on three more runs in the third and two more in the fourth to close out its first win of the season.

“Today we came out ready to play,” said NorthWood head coach Mandy DeMien. “The girls really hit the ball and also moved around the bases well. I liked how we swung the bat and stayed aggressive throughout the game. We played well Saturday (against Class 2-A No. 1 Bremen), but it came down to the little things. We took that into today’s game and executed really well.”

Tippecanoe Valley’s Kayla Scott takes a look at her contact against NorthWood.

Hannah Stickley, Linnzie Richner, Emily Schrock, Summer Stillson and Arika Flickinger all had RBIs for NorthWood.

Stickley picked up her first career varsity shutout in the circle, tossing all five innings. Stickley, a junior No. 2 for the squad to go with Troxel as the ace, gave up just four hits, two walks and struck out five.

Katie Gunter took the loss for Valley, working three innings and allowing 11 runs, but only three runs were earned. Gunter walked one and served up nine hits, but got no favors as six of the defensive errors were committed on her watch. Kayla Scott worked an inning of relief, giving up two runs on three hits.

Gunter had two of Valley’s hits, Scott and Rachael Torpy each with a base knock.

“The aggressiveness we wanted tonight on offense was there, we just couldn’t piece together anything after we got someone on base,” said Valley head coach Daryl Shoemaker. “Everything was right at somebody. But I like the contact and the aggressive approach we had at the plate.”

NorthWood (1-1), after getting shut out Saturday by Bremen, will get right back at it tomorrow at another potential sectional opponent in Fairfield, and will see a third Thursday against Lakeland before taking a week off for spring break. Valley (0-1) will host Argos Tuesday before 13 days off ahead of an April 11 home showdown with Triton.

“This team wants to get better,” Shoemaker said. “We started like this last year, a little slow out of the gate, but we came around at the end of the season. The record didn’t show it. But it’s a good group of girls and I have no doubt we won’t lose a lot of 13-0 ballgames.”

Added DeMien, “Our girls are excited to play Fairfield and Lakeland. We want to know how we stack up against sectional opponents. And three in one week right before spring break is a challenge, but the girls are looking forward to challenges and this will be one of them.”

Tippecanoe Valley pitcher Katie Gunter delivers to NorthWood Monday evening.